Arizona moves to dismiss more than 1000 ADA lawsuits
East Valley Tribune
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office plans to file a motion to dismiss more than 1,000 lawsuits filed against Arizona businesses that accuse them of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Tiny charity caught in blizzard of ADA lawsuits
East Valley Tribune
In the back of his mind, Jim Cook knew from personal experience that he needed to install a handicapped parking space at Help Services, his small east Mesa charity, to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
DOC to pay $41250 in disability discrimination case
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
The South Dakota Department of Corrections will pay more than $41,000 in legal fees and upgrade its facilities and procedures to settle a lawsuit filed by a disabled inmate.
The inmate, James Murphy, alleged in a lawsuit filed in 2013 that he’d been unjustly removed from a list of disabled inmates, that the South Dakota State Penitentiary’s facilities were out of sync with the Americans with Disabilities Act and that the DOC’s protections for disabled inmates with grievances were inadequate.
Dollar General hit with $277K in ADA case damages
HR Dive
· The decision to fire an employee who drank a $1.69 orange juice prior to paying for it proved to be a costly one for Dollar General, as a federal jury ruled in favor of the EEOC in a federal disability discrimination lawsuit to the tune of $27,565 in back pay and $250,000 in compensatory damages against the retail giant.
· EEOC charged Dollar General with firing a cashier at its Maryville, Tenn. store because of her need to treat her diabetes. According to EEOC's suit, the cashier, an insulin-dependent diabetic, told her supervisor she was a diabetic and requested on several occasions that her supervisor allow her to keep juice near the register to prevent a hypoglycemic attack.
· Although Dollar General did have an accommodation policy that could have allowed the cashier to keep juice near the register, the employees, including management at the Maryville store, did not know about the policy. So when the cashier drank the orange juice prior to purchase, in violation of Dollar General's "grazing" policy, the district manager and loss prevention manager fired the cashier after she admitted to drinking orange juice before buying it. Dollar General, the nation's largest small-box discount retailer, operates over 11,000 stores nationwide.
Mon Valley News Rostraver paying $200K to settle discrimination claim
Observer-Reporter
Rostraver Township has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle claims by a former finance director that the township violated state and federal laws barring employers from discriminating against employees with disabilities.
Can You Ask an Employee Returning from Leave Whether His Condition is ‘Chronic?’
HR.BLR.com
It may be risky to ask an employee returning from medical leave whether his illness is “chronic,” a recent court opinion illustrates. Such an inquiry, unless job-related and consistent with business necessity, may violate federal nondiscrimination laws.
Court rejects employer's argument that wellness programs are insulated from ADA
Wisconsin Gazette
A federal court has ruled in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a disability discrimination case over Orion Energy Systems wellness program.
The Wisconsin-based court rejected the employer's argument that the insurance safe harbor provision in the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act immunizes wellness plans from ADA scrutiny.
In the Orion lawsuit, EEOC v. Orion Energy Systems Inc., the EEOC argued that Orion required Wendy Schobert to submit to medical testing as part of a wellness program or pay 100 percent of the premium for the employer-provided health insurance.
The EEOC contended that this violated the ADA's prohibition against involuntary medical exams.
Is Disability Finally Having its Moment?
Huffington Post
The pulse and pace of disability is being featured more prominently in the public discourse, and more than ever before. Could this be the moment people in the disability community have fought for?